Alan Rickman Guestbook

I meant to remark on that very thing earlier but got so caught up in naming off the characters that I forgot. Rasputin's beard *was* rather substantial and AR would certainly have had to endure a lengthy growing spree to acquire the final result. I hadn't known he filmed Rasputin so soon after finishing up Michael Collins though. That's an excellent observation on your end.

Given numerous chances to wear wigs, he has taken up only one: RH:POT. Given numerous chances to play with prosthetics, he has declined. He didn't change his haircut for Hamlet, Tango or A&C.

Title Note: If galaxies have stars, then surely this quest is also a trek.

Premise: When alien rebel forces intercept broadcasts of a 1970's Earth television series about the brave Captain Peter Quincy Taggart of the U.S.E.A. Protector (Allen), they kidnap him and his co-stars (including an actress played by Weaver, and a renowned British actor played by Rickman who sounds a bit like a cross between Spock and Picard) to help them defeat their evil oppressors.

Now isn't that an image!

TVNow lists the following additional opportunities to tape "Judas Kiss":

http://home.freeuk.net/sc.i/Clair.htm
There was a comment by I believe Mary earlier in this guest book that AR doesn't look in real life much like he does in his films. I find that this is true and I'd go farther: what I find amazing is how in many of his films he looks to me like a completely different person. I'd seen him in a few movies. I'd taken away memories of only him and no other characters in each one, for example, Truly, Madly, Deeply and especially Bob Roberts. When I noticed him as a name to remember for the first time, in Sense and Sensibility, I was astonished to realize that I'd seen and remembered him in previous films without realizing it was the same actor. All the more interesting because he doesn't have a "standard actor" face.

Filming has begun on the DreamWorks science fiction comedy Galaxy Quest, which stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. Dean Parisot is directing the movie, about five washed up actors who used to star in a 1970s TV series called Galaxy Quest. Twenty years later the actors still don their costumes to make appearances at science fiction conventions, but not all of their fans are human. It seems that a group of extraterrestrials think Galaxy Quest was a television transmission of "historical documents," and they enlist Captain Peter Quincy Taggart (Allen) and his crew to fight in a war against a deadly alien race.

Fear not--my affection for you is untarnished, and besides--as my grandmother once said: "Never argue with a crazy person." ;-)

MELISSA: What was that about something from "Singing in the Rain"? I'm with you--looking forward to a properly British Sir Alexander in "Galaxy Quest" and--darst we hope?--in this calendar year?

DONNA: Detective Friedman has a sense at the beginning he's been pulled into a high profile case for political reasons; he learns from Mary-Ellen, "the grieving witness," that Dyson and Patty Hornbeck were having an affair. This makes the Senator #1 suspect. He has phone records of numerous calls between Patty Hornbeck and Dyson. We see him do *all* the "leg work" in this case. He knows from the chief and the Senator "go way back." He knows from Mattie Grimes that the Senator is a "lousy pocker player"--he tells us this early, and Grimes confirms it later. The woman at the senator's mistakes him/his car for Mattie's. He knows Mattie is the "best wire man in the Department." All of which leads to: "There's only one suspect." He and Agent Hawkins follow Hornbeck, where information is given to the accomplice in the green car--the address, presumably, where Dyson is being held, from Junior once Junior has received his pay-off--the $4 mil, plus passport, etc., left in the white car for after he shot Ruben. Clear?

1) Screen time: Loads. Some wonderful lengthy scenes with fine acting--little set pieces. Taper off near the end.

2) Character: hard-bitten detective, not generally doing field work, Roped in; resisting. In command. Not arrogant. He and Agent Hawkins engage in sexual banter, then seem to actually propose dating, and collaborate in solving the case. Like instant rapport. He (and she) sleeps 4 hrs a night--none in the one night of this film. Accidentally triggers on to his first clue and unravels the case. Has an ex-wife; just bought computer for his daughter. Ex-wife lives with the cop who should have "caught" the case. Determined, smart, gritty. Agent Hawkins is reading a Jim Thompson novel--he looks at the cover and tells her the plot: "Joyce Lakeland... If only she hadn't loved it when I beat her, the whole thing wouldn't have happened."

3) Wise suffers more than smoulders this film. He's one of the fictims--main one we see. A few nice acting moments. Few.

4) Yes, there is a "Judas Kiss"--between the bad guys. Perhaps more than one.

1. How much screen time does AR have?

2. Please describe AR's character.

3. Can Greg Wise act or does he just smoulder again?

4. Aside from making Internet searches difficult by using the same title as a hit British play, does the title have any relevance to the film?

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=95362267

Playbill from Closer signed by ENTIRE cast - Anna Friel, Rupert Graves, Ciarán Hinds and Natasha Richardson. Proceeds from this auction will go toward the Old Vic Theatre Charitable Trust.

Perhaps it was because AR and ET were putting on accents and concentrating on getting the accents right, and not how they should speak/act the parts.

I'm glad it didn't go to the big screen first - I don't think its a made for cinema movie.

I have to disagree with you Georgiana about it not being "too bad in the gratuitous area". I think it was considerably more raunchy than it needed to be. I understand that there was a need to convey the "seediness" of the characters, but still it could have been done without going quite that far.

I very much enjoyed AR and ET and thought they played off each other very well. They were very funny together and showed a sense of timing that undoubtedly comes from their long friendship. In my opinion, AR's Southern accent was much better than ET's. A couple of her funniest lines were almost lost in her heavy accent and rapid-fire way of talking. But that's my only criticism of her performance. Still, I would have liked to see these two characters in an entirely different film. My husband was watching with me and he commented that JK was "beneath" the talents of AR and ET. I have to agree.

1) Generally I like it (sorry Delia)! Gritty, well-paced, funny at moments. Not too bad in the "gratuitous" department. Interesting plot.

2) The best parts, as Claire said, are the banter between AR and ET. Could have used loads more. In fact, this stuff is so nice that it made me think of the film as a pilot for a TV series starting this dynamic duo. (In my dreams, yeah, I know!)

3) I thought the next best were the scenes between AR and Roscoe Lee Brown. Quite fine fun and pacing there.

4) Not to mention loads of beautiful close-ups of Mr. Rickman! ...With some nice variety in the role.

5) And that his character seems central to plot, and the best "fleshed-out" in the film: daughter, ex-wife, ex- wife's boyfriend, intimation of career course, etc.

6) And wasn't Emma a scream! (Sadie Hawkins indeed!)

7) Interesting that Emma's the "jock" and Greg Wise the victim.

On the other hand:

1) New Orleans was not optimized as a locale. (I love NO! Flew down in December for one night just to see an opera. Could not believe they shot Lizard while he was singing the Commendatore's "Don Giovanni...")

2) AR's accent seems to me not 100%. I think he goes to some pains to harden the terminal R's. However, most southerners soften them. So this sound kept twanging my ear. Would be interested in what any southerners thought...

3) AR ends rather feebly with "I'll tell you why it isn't personal. Because you are not a person!" Now, mind, he probably did the most possible with such a line. Thank goodness Em rescues us with an amazing bit of non-verbal acting there at the last.

Having seen "Judas Kiss", well, it's dreadful. Badly written, badly directed, the photography and editing are terrible, and the actors--we felt sorry for them. All of them. Even the bad ones. (The husband says the film is "overcast"--that the talents of the cast were wasted on substandard material.)

http://www.festival-cannes.fr

The site is great! It's incredibly colorful and full of useful information. When the festival starts, the site will also feature live video from key areas including photo calls, press conferences, and the red carpet. In addition, it's been rumored that a fourth camera will be added, showcasing the adventures of Dianne and Lana (from this very page) camping out on the beach. *grin* It does appear that they are still working on getting all the "attending films" pages up, although there are already a few of them there.

MIRAMAX'S controversial film ''Dogma,'' a religious satire not deemed funny by some people, has been chosen as an offical entry at the Cannes Film Festival. The French screened it and agreed with director Kevin Smith that the movie is a ''fantasy and love letter to both faith and God Almighty.''

A source tells us that that tomorrow, the Cannes selection committee will be announcing the selections for the Cannes Film Festival and among the official selections will be Kevin Smith's "Dogma". They will be stating that they are recognizing it for "the satire that it is." YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!!! Our scooper read the OFFICIAL PR today that will actually not be released to the press tomorrow.

News Askew is reporting that Dogma has been accepted to Cannes.

I just saw Claire's post about the Toronto Sun article, and thought you all might be interested in Kevin Smith's reaction to it.

"For the record, if you call a gossip columnist (or any journalist not professional enough to check a source), tell him you're an 'insider', and give him a negative ditty on a subject that's been deemed newsworthy over the last few weeks, they will print it."

"Is it true that Disney passed on the flick because it's not good? 'Not good' for Disney to be associated with, maybe. But Harvey reported that both Joe Roth and Michael Eisner thought the flick was well-made, funny, and View Askew's best flick to date. It was, however, too easy a target for the Catholic League, and because of that, we got our walking papers."

"Will someone, somewhere find the movie 'not good'? Absolutely. Hell, there may be alot of folks who badmouth 'Dogma' - no matter what I make, there'll always be the detractors who think I'm a talentless wannabe, who's no business being behind a camera. But was a lack of quality the reason Disney cut the flick lose? C'mon - think about it. Even if it blew, it's still got a bankable cast. And I'm sure I'm not revealing anything new here when I point out that Disney excels at releasing star-driven films that blow."

"No - I'm afraid the 'Toronto Sun' has put their faith in a poor source. Because if I'm certain of anything in life, it's that the quality of the flick had nothing to do with why we were s--tcanned."

On another note, I've heard that AR was in Red Bank, NJ about two or three weeks ago. Apparently, he came to the View Askew offices and watched the movie.

Now, let's see if I have everything:

_x_ sultry

_x_ witty

_x_ scintillating

_x_ list of questions

_x_ check for spinach between teeth

_x_ Nancy's medal for grace under pressure

_x_ plot at Forest Lawn if Bonnie ever gets her hands on me

Hooray!

Britain's Mail is reporting that Emma Thompson is three months' pregnant, but it's news to her publicist. Thompson rep Lois Smith said yesterday she didn't know whether the actress was expecting, adding: "I find that hard to believe, because she was just here a month ago, and she wasn't pregnant then."

Thursday, April 22: Press conference to release participating films for this year's Cannes Film Festival . Dogma has been discussed as a submission.

Friday, April 23: BAFTA to open a search engine for past winners at their web site.

Friday, April 23: Judas Kiss premieres on Cinemax. Dates and times previously posted.

BW0721 APR 19,1999 11:07 PACIFIC 14:07 EASTERN

( EW)(CA-GALAXY-QUEST)

Principal Photography
Launches On DreamWorks' ``Galaxy Quest''

Entertainment Editors

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 19, 1999--

Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell, Enrico Colantoni and Sam Rockwell Complete Main Cast Led by Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman

Filming is underway on DreamWorks Pictures' science- fiction comedy adventure "Galaxy Quest," starring Tim Allen ("The Santa Clause," TV's "Home Improvement"), three-time Oscar(R) nominee Sigourney Weaver (the "Alien" trilogy) and Alan Rickman ("Die Hard," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves").
Principal photography began Monday in Los Angeles under the direction of Dean Parisot ("Home Fries"). Joining the main cast are Tony Shalhoub ("Men in Black," "Big Night"), Daryl Mitchell (TV's "Veronica's Closet," "10 Things I Hate About You"), Enrico Colantoni (TV's "Just Shoot Me") and Sam Rockwell (Woody Allen's "Celebrity").
Academy Award(R) winner Mark Johnson ("Rain Man") and Charles Newirth ("Forrest Gump") are producing the film from a screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon. The executive producer is Elizabeth Cantillon, with Suzann Ellis and Sona Gourgouris serving as co-producers.
"Galaxy Quest" follows the adventures of five people who, for four years, donned their uniforms and set out on thrilling and often dangerous missions in space – then the series was canceled.
Twenty years later, the five stars of the classic `70s series "Galaxy Quest" are still in costume, making appearances at science-fiction conventions for legions of die-hard fans -- but some of those fans are a little more far out than the actors could ever have imagined.
A group of aliens who have mistaken the television transmissions for "historical documents" arrive at a convention and whisk Captain Peter Quincy Taggart (Tim Allen) and his "crew" into space to help them in their all- too-real war against a deadly adversary.
The behind-the-scenes team includes visual effects from the Oscar(R)-winning team from Industrial Light & Magic, under the supervision of Stefen Fangmeier ("Twister," "Small Soldiers") and Bill George ("Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace"). Special animatronic and creature effects will be handled by multiple Academy Award(R) winner Stan Winston ("Jurassic Park").
The director of photography is Jerzy Zielinski ("Powder"); the production designer is Linda DeScenna ("Patch Adams"); the costume designer is two-time Oscar(R)- winner Albert Wolsky ("Bugsy," "All That Jazz"); and the editor is Don Zimmerman ("Patch Adams," "Liar, Liar").
"Galaxy Quest" is being filmed on five soundstages at Warner Hollywood Studios, as well as on locations in and around Los Angeles, and in Goblin Valley, Utah.
DreamWorks SKG was formed in October 1994 by its three principal partners --Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen -- to produce live-action motion pictures; animated feature films; network, syndicated and cable- television programming; home- video entertainment; records; books; toys; consumer products and interactive entertainment.

--30--tjm/la dda/la

CONTACT: DreamWorks SKG, Universal City
Vivian Mayer, 818/733-6674

DELIA, I appreciate your comments. The web-site response to my LLD inquiry, however, was none too promising--referring me to the available filmversion (yeah, right...).

CLAIRE, great pix yet again and how many poses did they take at that TMD shoot? I think I've seen at least a dozen.

The issue of "subsidiary right" is a landmine for those undetaking this endeavor--some union contracts stipulate payments for such conversions, other contracts don't mention them at all.

And now for the real reason I'm posting ..

April 18, 1999

New Life for Great Theater (Even Olivier)

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

As Basil Hero tells it, the saving of Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Faye Dunaway and Wendy Wasserstein began three years ago in a Burger Heaven in midtown Manhattan.

He and his best pal from boarding school, Andrew Greenspan, were sitting around as usual, trying to think of a business venture they could start together. Former television reporters who had hung up their microphones in disillusionment over "creeping voyeurism," they were looking for some way to pool their video and computer skills.

In the mid-1980's they had come up with the idea for a line of history videos shrink-wrapped with matching textbooks. But after putting together a business plan they discovered there weren't enough videocassette recorders around yet to make it work. Then the History Channel came along.

Now they were thinking of some way to adapt Broadway productions for television, using digital technology. After their burger lunch, they decided to see how earlier stage productions had been adapted and walked over to the Museum of Television and Radio on West 52d Street.

And then it happened. "Oh my God," said Mr. Hero, "we found hundreds and hundreds of fabulous productions."

The result was the new venture that he and Mr. Greenspan, both 43, had been seeking. Called the Broadway Theater Archive, it represents a collaboration between them and a deep-pocketed partner (Michael Fuchs, the former chairman and chief executive officer of HBO), a silent partner (the Broadway producer Chase Mishkin) and WNET (Channel 13), the flagship public television station that is heir to a vast video library preserving 40 years of the best of the American stage.

Now, with many of the tapes deteriorating, the theater archive is proceeding to clear the underlying creators' rights and transfer the shows to digital format in exchange for marketing and commercial rights. WNET, which contributed the tapes and prodigious research work in tracking down the creators for rights clearances, will itself rebroadcast some of the productions as "Treasures From the Archive" in a new series "Stage on Screen," to begin next January.

"In some ways, it's a no-brainer," said William F. Baker, president and chief executive officer of WNET. "We're sitting on one of the great libraries. This is an important art treasure for America."

As it happened, even before the Broadway Theater Archive materialized, WNET had been searching for a way to preserve its library of classics, which are not tapings of live performances but productions restaged for television.

The match seemed made in heaven for Jac Venza, the station's director of culture and arts programming, who as a pioneer of public television and executive producer of its "Great Performances" series, helped create many of the landmark television plays and a scattering of musical performances now being preserved.

"So when I'm sitting in my rocking chair, I'll get to see them," he said.

These are indeed the crown jewels of public television: more than 100 tape reels of gems like Dustin Hoffman in his first starring role on television, as a wacky Turgenev character in "Journey of the Fifth Horse," from 1966; Meryl Streep in her television debut in "Secret Service," a Civil War melodrama from 1977; Faye Dunaway in a 1974 revival of "Hogan's Goat," the drama that originally catapulted her to "Bonnie and Clyde" and stardom, and Wendy Wasserstein's first play, "Uncommon Women and Others," starring Swoosie Kurtz and featuring Ms. Streep, from 1978.

Along with an additional hundred or so productions from network television in the days before culture was banished altogether as insufficiently commercial, there are also classics like "The Moon and Sixpence," with Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (1959); "Death of a Salesman," with Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock recreating their acclaimed Broadway performances (1966); the Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival's "King Lear" with James Earl Jones, Raul Julia and Paul Sorvino (1974); "Hedda Gabler," with Ingrid Bergman in a rare television appearance, and Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson and Trevor Howard (1963); "The Seagull," with Frank Langella, Blythe Danner, Olympia Dukakis and Lee Grant (1975); "Wuthering Heights," with Richard Burton and Rosemary Harris (1958); "Follies in Concert," with Carol Burnett, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Lee Remick, Mandy Patinkin, Elaine Stritch and Barbara Cook (1986); "A Moon for the Misbegotten," with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst and directed by José Quintero (1975), and a Tennessee Williams trilogy of one-act plays with Ben Gazzara, directed by Sidney Lumet.

To name just a few.

The shows are widely scattered in climate-controlled vaults and open basement shelves of the Library of Congress, the Public Broadcasting Corporation, Time-Life, HBO, the networks, museums and universities and WNET itself. Many, in deteriorating condition, are in dire need of preservation. "Secret Service," the Meryl Streep debut, for example, was in such precarious shape that the cleaning and copying process destroyed it, Mr. Hero said. But now there is a digital master.

Others have simply been lost over the years. No known copies exist, for example, of three acclaimed 1961 "Du Pont Show of the Month" productions: "The Prisoner of Zenda," with Christopher Plummer; "Heaven Can Wait," with Robert Morley, Wally Cox and Anthony Franciosa, and "The Night of the Storm," with E. G. Marshall and Julie Harris.

Before the salvage process can go forward, however, the three partners including Mr. Fuchs, who ran both HBO and the Warner Music Group before leaving Time Warner in 1995, must gain permission from the authors or other creators or their heirs.

Past efforts to obtain such rights, which in these cases can run between $75,000 and $350,000 per production, often bogged down in royalty disputes. But the tapes' fragility, which could soon moot the issue, is persuading owners to accept a percentage of the Broadway Theater Archive's take rather than demanding up-front payments out of the archive's limited initial capitalization of several million dollars; the partners declined to be more specific. Just tracking down legal titles has already cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Salvaging the tapes may cost several million more. Once the shows have been digitally remastered -- a complex laboratory process that can take up to a week if the single soundtrack has to be separated into two for foreign broadcast requirements -- the theater archive must still come to terms with the performers' unions on residual fees or royalties, also to come out of the archive's income. Without going into detail about what have become delicate talks, Mr. Hero said, "They're being extremely cooperative."

Some works in the public domain come cheap, said Susan Marchand, executive director of program marketing and distribution for WNET. "Luckily," she said, "we have three Shakespeares."

With rights issues cleared up and digital copies made, the theater archive gets the right to license the shows for home video sale and rebroadcast by commercial and public outlets worldwide.

The archive is already on the Web (www.broadwayarchive.com) offering, at last count, 137 titles for sale (VHS, $39.95 each), starting this summer, provided the clearances come through.

Mr. Hero said he expected overseas outlets like the BBC and German, Russian, Eastern European and Israeli television to be his biggest customers. "They've never seen these before," he said, "and audiences haven't been dumbed down there yet."

More than anything else, he said, the Internet makes the venture feasible, giving access to a global population of culture consumers. Like nothing before, he said, "the Internet can get the enthusiast together with the owner." And at so little cost.

Finding their angel, Mr. Fuchs, took some doing, Mr. Hero and Mr. Greenspan said in a joint interview with Mr. Fuchs in the theater archive's offices in Mr. Fuchs's 42d-floor suite on West 57th Street, with all of Central Park stretched out panoramically below.

SHORTLY after their brainstorm at Burger Heaven, they said, they saw Mr. Fuchs interviewed on "The Charlie Rose Show," talking about the lack of culture on television. They had a solution. But how to reach Mr. Fuchs?

He was, it turned out, a board member of the Los Angeles- based Simon Wiesenthal Center, where Mr. Greenspan's ex- girlfriend worked. With her help, they tracked him down.

"They came in and pitched me," Mr. Fuchs recalled. "I liked the idea they were investigative reporters. They had the tenacity to wrestle this to the ground."

Mr. Fuchs said that while commercial considerations were hardly uppermost in his mind, "nobody ever went broke accumulating a library."

The business could grow in new directions, he said. There was always Mr. Hero and Mr. Greenspan's original idea of coming up with the digital age's answer to the black-and- white classics now in the public television vaults.

"I looked at Broadway like an ex-TV person," Mr. Hero said. "After all these years, it has yet to make the leap to broadcasting. The camera today has the ability to buzz around the stage like a bumblebee. You can digitize the sets and take actors into a studio and shoot with 360- degree mobility and point-of-view taping. You're suddenly given a depth of field not possible before."

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1999-

Pay Television Rights:

Re: "Judas Kiss": Cinemax (better known around here as "Skinemax") is owned by HBO which is, of course, another fine Time Warner company.

Bits of Branagh news: Although the NY Times doesn't mention Branagh as the narrator of the Great Composers series on PBS, he does narrate. UK Branagh fans are going to be treated to an entire month of May of Branagh films as part of the National Film Theatre progam in May. He will also speak. And BBC America is running the Billy Plays, about hard life in Belfast, which have not been shown before the U.S. (They will also run during May.)

SUPER BOWL KICK-OFF FOR 'CLERKS'? By Don Kaplan

ABC officials are considering giving the coveted post-Super Bowl slot next year to the new animated show, "Clerks," according to the show's creator. The edgy comedy - spun off from the 1994 cult hit written and directed by Kevin Smith - is about the lives and times of two slacker store clerks who work in a run-down quickie mart and a video store in central New Jersey.

"ABC has the Super Bowl next year and they have said that they want to debut the show sometime next January," Smith told The Post yesterday. "So it could be on after the Super Bowl, but it's not confirmed yet." The game is the most-watched TV event of the year, and the show that follows is the most-coveted debut slot of the season. "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill" "The Wonder Years" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" have all debuted during that same valuble airtime.

"Clerks" - a critically acclaimed film that was shot in black-and-white with a no-frills style - starred Brian O'Halloran ("Chasing Amy") and Jeff Anderson. Both are being pursued to reprise their film roles for the animated show. Like "The Simpsons," "Clerks" will feature celebrities lending their voices to the show. Marquee names who have already agreed to appear include Ben Affleck, Alanis Morsette and Chris Rock, an internet news site, aint-it- cool-news.com, reports. "They're all friends who have said they're interested," Smith said. "But no deals have been signed yet."

The new sound file is a real treat. AR lays on the Southern accent a bit thick, but it's charming just the same. Oh, how I wish I could get Cinemax just for that showing! 8-)

In Canada you can order The Return of the Native tapes narrated by AR on-line at ChaptersGlobe. Their blurb says this:

"Alan Rickman, star of Sense and Sensibility and Truly Madly Deeply and director of The Winter Guest, has the perfect rich, deep, craggy voice to read one of English literature’s masterpieces on audio cassette."

List Price: $69.75
Site Price: $55.80
Savings: $13.95

Prices are in CDN$.

The cheapest shipping fee in Canada is $6.00, expedited CanadaPost. They also ship to the U.S. and internationally, but by courier and the fees are steeper.

Here is the URL of the page about the book. I hope this takes you there.

TROTN Tapes

If not, the site is at http://www.chaptersglobe.com. Search for Return of the Native using the search function.

That means fall of '97. The film is finished and, no, there has not been further tinkering. The January mentioned is January '98.

>At press time Coleman Howard was >editing at Hart Sharp/Killer Films' New York facility. >Dark Harbor should be finished in late January and all >rights are available

Kari saw the film last summer but I find it odd that the director was still editing last winter (approximately 6 months after she'd initially seen it). Were they changing things even then? And does this mean we might get to see it soon?

I can't wait until she gets back to ask her about this!

From "Filmmaker" Winter '98.

Alan Rickman stars in Dark Harbor, a stormy romantic thriller from Adam Coleman Howard. The enigmatic David (Rickman) and his moody heiress wife Alexis (Polly Walker) are speeding through torrential rains to make the last ferry to their private island home off the Maine coast when they stop to help a mysterious young man. Enter Norman Reedus -- the Prada poster boy you probably noticed first in Mimic -- who quickly coopts the unhappy couple and travels with them to the island.

"It's a classic love triangle about a couple whose marriage is infiltrated by a young stranger, but we planted a virus in it so it grows differently than one would expect," says Coleman Howard. "The trajectory of the story appears to follow a classic path, but it is not in fact what it seems."

Coleman Howard was originally an actor (Slaves of New York) before turning director with Dead Girl several years ago. (Look for that feature's delayed release through Live in March.) He wrote Harbor with actor pal Justin Lazard ("Central Park West") and says Rickman was his top choice to play David. He also got the cinematographer he wanted -- Robert Altman regular Walt Lloyd -- after ignoring his agent's protests that Lloyd was inaccessible and sending the script directly to his home with a "heartfelt" two-page letter.

Producing are Hart Sharp Entertainment's John Hart and Jeff Sharp in association with Killer Films' Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler. Hart and Vachon have teamed up before with other partners on films like Safe and Office Killer.

Dark Harbor shot for 27 days last fall in the tiny coastal town of Camden, Maine. At press time Coleman Howard was editing at Hart Sharp/Killer Films' New York facility. Dark Harbor should be finished in late January and all rights are available.

More importantly, I've temporarily put up some photos that I know everyone will love. I took a chance on buying the special edition laserdisc of Bob Roberts, even though I already have the movie on disc and video and really can't stand it (except for the AR parts), to see if there would be extras with our man. I was right! There are a couple of deleted scenes at the end that are shown plus a slew of production stills, 19 of which are with AR! I have a link on the main page, and it should work (if it doesn't, do let me know!). The photos I captured off the video aren't too big, though they *are* bigger than the size I chose for the page. If I can manipulate the size without compromising quality, I'll repost them. The actual size of the photo captured is reflected in the last photo of the page. I made the others smaller due to space, but when you download them, they will be bigger.

And thank you again, Claire & Claudia, for taking such excellent care of the guestbooks! I never imagined it would be for so long, so I am indebted to you.

I noticed my xoom server started putting a navigation bar across the top of the web-pages. There's some interesting links on it, but really has nothing to do with the AR pages, so otherwise just ignore it. And I'm not sure about other browsers, but with Microsoft IE, wait for the page to finish loading if you don't want the bar to follow you around.

The Clerks animated series, which is Kevin's favorite project at the moment (aside from Dogma, of course), is slated to debut on ABC this January. He confirmed that Brian and Jeff would indeed be doing the voices of the title characters, along with MANY special guest voices, including most of Dogma's cast (Affleck wants to be a Canadian character), and a recurring role (Leonardo Leonardo) hopefully voiced by Alan Rickman. A bit of the third episode's storyline was revealed, and MAN does this sound HILARIOUS! We won't spill the beans, but, anyone see "Outbreak"?

I'm sure this has been mentioned here before, but some mystery fans (myself included) also daydream of AR as William Monk in Anne Perry's William Monk series of novels about a detective who suffers from amnesia. These are an excellent read, and I always picture Rickman in the part as I read them! 8-) If anyone would like to give these a try, the first in the series is called Face of a Stranger.

Miramax is selling the film.

In an effort to take the heat off the parent-company Disney, Harvey and Bob Weinstein are buying the negative back from Miramax themselves, and plan to release it independently from Disney, perhaps through Paramount or Universal. A press release stating such will be sent out today.

http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj/beekeepr.html

And while you're at it, stop in next door at Flights of Fancy, if you haven't already! 8-D

ANGUISH OVER CHURCH-BASHING FLICK

MIRAMAX may have to dump promising young filmmaker Kevin Smith over his latest movie, which satirizes the Catholic Church and Catholic faith in a manner certain to offend the faithful.

Miramax and parent Disney are reportedly wringing their hands over what to do with the flick, "Dogma," which is expected to meet with protests the likes of which haven't been seen since the release of 1988's "Last Temptation of Christ."

Among the picture's elements are a trash-talking 13th apostle, the notion that Joseph and Mary had sex, a female descendant of Jesus who works in an abortion clinic, a Skee-ball-obsessed God, and an updated Christ who no longer hangs from the cross but instead offers a thumbs-up salute.

According to Premiere magazine, Miramax is considering selling the picture to another distributor - Paramount's Sherry Lansing has reportedly been approached - or editing it to make it less offensive.

Either move would rupture the studio's relationship with Smith, whose 1994 smash "Clerks" and later lesbian yarn "Chasing Amy" helped secure Miramax's place as an indie film institution. Miramax had "no comment" on the brouhaha.

Ben Affleck - who stars alongside Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek and Chris Rock - is so worried about the fate of "Dogma," he's lobbying Miramax co-chief Harvey Weinstein not to abandon it.

"I know Harvey Weinstein has his trepidations about this," Affleck recently told Mr. Showbiz on-line, "and he's gotta answer to Disney. Is Michael Eisner nervous about it? Probably. For a $5 million movie, which is small beans, he may take a disproportionate amount of heat over it ... But I certainly hope [Disney] supports the movie and stands behind it and [is] brave enough to say, 'Listen, this isn't necessarily Disney's credo - this is Harvey Weinstein and Miramax.'"

Under its Disney deal, Miramax can release any film it wants except those with an NC-17 rating. But family-friendly Disney - which already has enough problems with the Southern Baptists - may not be up to a run-in with Catholics.

"There will be a really intense storm," Independent Film Channel host John Pierson, who exec-produced "Chasing Amy" and has seen "Dogma," told Premiere. "The Catholic League probably will have a problem."

"[Kevin Smith] is a devoutly religious Catholic," says Affleck. "This is a criticism of the Catholic Church by someone who was raised in it."

Before we get into any discussions of art or censorship, let's get to the bottom line: the bottom line. Disney (like Time Warner, like Cap Cities, like just about every thing) is a publically-held company. If the stockholders are happy, *everybody* is happy.

There seems to be some genuine concern about "Dogma", and the feeling is that Miramax/Disney is waiting to see how the wind blows before making a decision. Although releasing a film that is roundly attacked in the media--or by special interest groups--for its content (funny, isn't it, how free speech works!) isn't desirable, being seen in your own community (the wild and wacky world of entertainment, in this case) as a company that doesn't stand by its artists--well, that isn't too healthy, either. After all, what artist--writer, producer, director, actor--wants to work for a studio that won't support them?

With all the talk about Dogma and it's subject manner, I wonder how many of you have read the early draft of the script. I frequent Kevin Smith's page, and he said just yesterday, "The Cannes screening (for fest-head Gilles Jacob) was moved to this coming Tuesday, so hopefully we'll know then if we're in or out at that point." So it hasn't been accepted yet. On the point of Catholic backlash, I think the funny part is that Kevin Smith is a practicing Catholic. I've read the script and didn't find it offensive at all, I thought it was funny. He isn't doing anything besides questioning some aspects of the Catholic faith, which hasn't exactly been controversy free. Catholics debate all the time about the Church's stand on birth control, women as priests, abortion, etc. Basically, I think all the controversy is being cooked up for no reason by people who haven't even read the script.

Yet if something has occurred this week it is exactly as the article at Mr Showbiz (thank you Keyser for the heads up) stated with regards to distribution. If Miramax is planning to abandon the film, Cannes is as good an arena (I personally feel it's the best) as any to gain distributorship. I doubt that (with the plethora of unworthy films out there that make it to the big screen each and every year) that someone won't pick it up (that is, if circumstances surrounding the film are actually in the state they are made out to be).

Though I don't agree with everything that Dogma intends to comment on, I am willing to see it. A closed mind is something I'll never be accused of. Kevin Smith's films have always been enjoyable to me. They make me laugh even if I don't approve of everything they say. I find his films to be witty and they usually teach me something new. There's nothing wrong with that.

I should get off my soapbox now. I'm not too familiar with Hollywood antics and the film industry. Is there anyone out there who can explain why Miramax can agree to back a film and then not distribute it because of outside concerns? I'm just scratching my head over that one but I am sure there must be a reasonable answer. Did they sign an initial contract? Can they just back out of it like that?

Mr. Showbiz has a report on "Dogma" today. Following is the URL -

http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/990401/showcon040199_1.html

Mr. Showbiz

This film may end up going to straight to cable or to video, just like "Judas Kiss."

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